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| Magnitude Pinup by Robert Bavington Click to see full-size image |
In the 1940s, the Libertyville-based team Champions of Liberty defended the home front and helped the war effort, with some assistance from the U.S. Government. Following the war, the Soviet dissident and American patriot Antonin Koldesku (“Professor Kold”) convinced President Harry S. Truman of the need for a U.S. organization of mystery men. The team dubbed “Kold’s Warriors” served from 1946 until the early 1990s.
September 11 th, 2001, renewed American interest in financing a team of superheroes. Recruiting began for a Covert Metahuman Protection and Reconnaissance Service. The C.M.P.R.S. are technically federal military and can draw from all branches of the armed forces as needed, though with strict Congressional oversight. They are allowed to operate within and without the U.S. through approval of the states, thus avoiding problems of posse comitatus.
With the rise of the international terrorist armed force known as SCORP and their attacks on American soil, the C.M.P.R.S. began operation and took the nickname “Happy Campers,” a nod to the famed WWII fighting squad. Metahumans in military service are usually reassigned to the Happy Campers. The rest of the team is made up of military personnel using experimental armor and weaponry. Additionally, the three-way interstellar war between the Amazar Alliance, the Havizzad Empire and the Wzzwur Protectorate recently spilled over to Earth, yielding a treasure trove of confiscated alien technology.
"Sgt. Patton" is the codename for Army First Sergeant Templeton Smith. Smith believes he is the latest incarnation of General George S. Patton, who claimed to have been at the sites of battles in his past lives. Patton was a boastful, egocentric, foul-mouthed, career-driven, and arguably a delusional grandstander; he was also learned and crafty. Templeton Smith displays all of these aspects and even carries ivory-handled revolvers and owns a dog. As leader of the Happy Campers, his keen battle plans ensure that they are one of the best organized super-teams in any melee.
Warpiece – Marine Lt. Buck Will is permanently bonded with a captured artifact of Amazarian bio-weaponry. Will volunteered for the join in order to save the dying, snail-like symbiote. The creature, joined to his left shoulder, augments his body and allows him to interface with the shell-like Amazarian armor. Buck technically outranks Sgt. Patton and suspects he may be insane.
Freedom Fry – Cpl. Shannon Conners' innate flame powers kicked in when she was caught in a helicopter explosion. Though she can easily control the heat, she has not found a way to turn off the visible flame effect.
Nabob – Nabob gained negative energy powers as the result of a top secret experiment. His background and identity are classified.
M.I.A. – Private Mia Sorkin has always had invisibility powers and uses them expertly. The army dubbed her Miss Invisible Assassin since that created a cute anagram, but she never goes by that because she’s really more of a spy. Special equipment has been designed for her, but everyday clothes and objects are not affected by her powers.
Posse C – Gangsta rapper Kutz2Deep (real name: Darnell Washington) gained fame and fortune from three albums of cop-killing, gang-fighting, girl-pimping, Jew-hating musical tirades. Darnell had a change of heart after witnessing SCORP’s attack on his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. Renouncing his career and denouncing his old beliefs, he was befriended by a local rabbi who told him the Hebrew legend of The Golem. Darnell enlisted with the C.M.P.R.S. and uses an ancient seal to summon a “posse” of golems to do his bidding.
Donny Ammo – Though Private Donald Ambrose doesn’t strike anyone as a genius, he has a stunning aptitude for weapon design and is the only human found who can use a Wzzwurian adaptive firearm. The Wzzwurian infantry use weapons which rest in a dormant form until the bearer mentally conceives every aspect of the weapon he wishes to hold. While Wzzwurs usually envision a standard firearm they have memorized, Donny Ammo gives his imagination free reign.
General Bald Eagle is their superior officer and the founder of the C.M.P.R.S. An ex-superhero, Bald Eagle used to serve with Kold's Warriors. Today, the general plans their missions but rarely joins them in the field.
